Monday, April 30, 2007

CCD: it's anybody's guess

Here is a great article on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and race to find a cause. Theories run the gamut on what the cause of CCD might be. My favorite is that God is calling the bees to heaven (someone actually suggested this to the researchers). Another one, which sounds like it might be possible but the science does not support it, is that cell phones are causing CCD. It might not make sense scientifically, but I won’t take any chances. When my bees finally arrive, I will not be allowing them to have cell phones!


The Sun had a good article today as well.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Just waiting for my nuc to arrive...

I have selected the site for my apiary, assembled and set up my equipment, so now I just sit back and wait for the nuc that I purchased to arrive. Hopefully, it will arrive in the next 2-3 weeks. I have most likely missed the nectar flow already, so a crop of honey is probably not in the cards this year. I will focus on building a strong, healthy colony of bees to get a crop of honey next year and possibly split this hive into two. In the meantime, there are plenty of bee books to read.

The goofy looking thing between the top cover and the brood chamber is my fancy pants hive top feeder. I will leave that on at least until I have two brood chambers of drawn comb and then stop feeding for the summer or switch to a feeder jar with only a few holes to simulate a light nectar flow.